Webinars and Events

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FIELD's live events, webinars and podcasts cover issues of critical interest to practitioners, donors, advocates, and others interested in microenterprise and economic opportunity.

Date

Event

December 19 , 2016

"Webinar: Technology Platforms for Achieving Efficiency"
Platforms — defined as structures that provide shared tools or services that enhance the capacity or efficiency of players in an industry — have long been used in the private sector to drive standardization and growth. This webinar explains how platforms can support scale and efficiency in the microenterprise and financial capability fields.

September 24, 2015

"An Introduction to the Small Business Borrowers' Bill of Rights"
The webinar highlights trends in the small business lending market, predatory lending practices that have emerged and how organizations can sign on to or endorse the BBOR. Regardless of whether you are a small business development organization, CDFI, lender, broker, investor or think tank, this is your chance to learn more about the BBOR.

September 10, 2015

"The 1099 Economy: Exploring a New Social Contract for Employers, Employees, and Society"
As the nature of work evolves, how should labor and social policies evolve to ensure work in America can still lead families to a better future? Panelists explore policy alternatives for today and for the future.

December 2, 2014

"
Working in America: The Future of Work in the Sharing Economy"
Panelists discuss what are the upsides and downsides to work in the quickly expanding sharing economy? What does the sharing economy look like from the perspective of the worker?

September 4, 2014

"Asset Building through Credit Pilot: Credit Scores & Financial Capability"
What do the data tell us about how to deliver a financial product to build credit? The webinar offers practical lessons for practitioners, funders, and others interested in moving the needle on financial capability.

March 19, 2014

"Increasing your Client Outcomes IQ,"
This webinar announces the launch of a new feature to www.microtracker.org—the addition of client outcomes data to the site. Listen in to learn more about ways you can use the analytic tools on microTracker to explore the data and to use it to add value to your work. MicroTracker’s client outcomes features provide solid data on the outcomes experienced by microenterprise clients—data that can be used to raise funds, demonstrate effectiveness, and identify ways to strengthen programs.

March 4, 2014

"Asset Building through Credit Pilot: Initial Findings"
This webinar highlights the initial findings report from the Asset Building through Credit Pilot. Listeners will hear the lessons around the practice of delivering a secured credit card to build credit. FIELD also presents early results on client outcomes and its work with pilot partners around developing a sustainable business model for the card.

"Big Ideas for Job Creation: Beyond Public Stimulus,"
The second event in the Big Ideas for Job Creation series highlights two strategies that have each demonstrated the potential to expand employment opportunities for individuals and communities that face particular challenges. These three strategies, while they have yet to become mainstream practice in the US, each have the potential to be scaled and replicated. And each involves a blend of private and public involvement that means they are more politically feasible. Speakers include: Steve Dubb, The Democracy Collaborative and Carla Javits, The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF).

Nov. 25, 2013

"Big Ideas for Jobs: Entrepreneurship as a Job Creation Strategy"
Hear from the authors of three "Big Ideas for Jobs" papers who illustrate the role of microenterprise in creating jobs. The authors also identify policies that can support microenterprise development. An extended panel of experts raise the work that has been done to date to advance these policy ideas, and discuss what still needs to be done. Speakers include: Elaine Edgcomb, strategic advisor of FIELD, Ida Rademacher, Corporation for Enterprise Development, and Beth Kregor, Institute for Justice.

Sept. 26, 2013

"Strategies and Practices for Mobilizing Training Resources,"
This interactive webinar shares insights on how large-scale training organizations pursue resource mobilization and cost recovery to sustain the delivery of services over the long haul. Listeners will review data and other research findings that describe the “state of practice” with respect to sustaining programs, and be able to match that experience to their own. Leading BDS practitioners, WEV and WWBIC, discuss their experiences, and what they have learned about the skills and capacities necessary to grow and sustain their organizations year after year.

"Scaling through Distance Learning"
FIELD shares lessons from one organization that has already "been there." Since 2007, WESST in New Mexico has been piloting distance-learning services for entrepreneurs scattered across that large and beautiful state. It hasn't been a smooth ride, but its early experiences have paved the way for a strategy that offers guideposts to others. Presenting 9 lessons and organizational assessment guide.

"Income Patching Among Microentrepreneurs,"
FIELD featured its latest Trendlines report, Income Patching among Microentrepreneurs, in this interactive webinar. While microenterprise development creates jobs, this new research confirms another important role it plays in supporting families and the economies in which they operate: as an income supplement. FIELD staff presented key findings on income patching and discussed with practitioners and participants what these results mean for the microenterprise industry.

"Benchmarking Business Development Services"
Are you interested in exploring how your business development services compare to others in the microenterprise field? Benchmarking your BDS performance can be key in helping you identify the outcomes your entrepreneurs report, and guide you towards program improvements. Jefferson Economic Development Institute (JEDI) will share how they used microTracker to answer questions about the scale and effectiveness of their business development services.

"Benchmarking Loan Performance,"
Do you want to know how your loans are performing compared to similar microenterprise organizations? Are you more or less efficient than other microlenders? How does your ability to recoup lending costs compare to peer organizations? Learn how Community Capital of Vermont (CCVT) explored these questions using microTracker, a benchmarking tool for the U.S. microenterprise industry. CCVT's Executive Director, Martin Hahn, will share concrete details on how his organization used microTracker data to make changes in its lending program.

"Building Businesses by Building Credit"
With the continued challenge of poor credit quality stemming from the financial crisis, many organizations have looked to new approaches to serve clients who want to grow or start a business but are hampered by poor or nonexistent credit. In this webinar, we’ll hear from two microenterprise organizations in Vermont (The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Central Vermont Community Action Council) that are helping their clients to build credit by blending financial coaching with access to a secured card product.

"The State of Business Development Services"
What does data from the 2011 U.S. Microenterprise Census tell us about how business development services have evolved since 2008? This webinar explores how microenterprise programs have sustained training, technical assistance and other services even as private dollars declined, grown the aggregate number of individuals helped, and added more types of service to their offerings.

"The State of Microenterprise"
What does data from the 2011 U.S. Microenterprise Census tell us about how microenterprise programs have reacted since the "great recession" started in 2008? Data from the industry-wide survey helps explore how microenterprise programs have expanded services to business owners newly closed out of mainstream capital markets, assisted traditionally disadvantaged microentrepreneurs survive downswings in demand, and adapted to the changing economy.

Introduction to microTracker:
In this series of webinars, FIELD staff introduce data analytic and benchmarking examples specific to the microenterprise industry, using microTracker.org; a site to help programs easily analyze data to understand the U.S. microenterprise industry, compare, and improve performance.

"Brands strategies for microenterprise development"
features Southeastern Ohio’s Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (ACEnet) and its experience creating three brands in the food and arts sectors. ACENet’s Director of Programming, Leslie Schaller, explores the potential of a brands strategy to achieve scale and impact for microentrepreneurs.

"The How-To’s of Distance-Based Microenterprise Training"
A long-time challenge facing microenterprise programs is how to reach larger numbers of entrepreneurs efficiently despite the distance to a program office. In order to bridge the distance gap, more and more practitioners are providing distance-based business development services. This webinar shares FIELD’s findings and speaks to pioneer practitioners of these strategies—Marita Fairchild from Coastal Enterprises in Maine and Jinell Smithmyer from MicroMentor. We walk through lessons learned as you embark on, or seek to improve, your own organization’s efforts in this area.

"A Conversation on For-profit Microlenders in the U.S."
explores the landscape of for-profit microlenders in the U.S. An overview of FIELD's white paper "A Newly Crowded Marketplace: How For-profit Lenders Are Serving Microentrepreneurs" is provided, together with an interactive session discussing the implications for nonprofit lenders.

"What Have Business Development Services-Focused Programs Learned about Scaling-up?"
Shaw Canale of Mountain BizWorks and Agnes Noonan of WESST, two of six Scale Academy members engaged in a year-long peer learning exchange, will join us to discuss their strategies for scale and their approaches to sustaining it.

"Financial Literacy and Credit-Building in Microenterprise"
Credit scores have come to play an increasingly important role in determining who can access a range of products (including loans, credit cards, rental property, and telephone service) and the prices they pay for them. While microenterprise development organizations (MDOs) have long been active in the personal finance space, many have begun to expand their work in this area to include a focus on credit building. This webinar will review findings from the literature review and case study of the Latino Economic Development Corporation.

"Raising Capital with an Individual Investor Strategy: the Ins and Outs"
This Webinar offers a discussion of the individual investor strategy to raise capital. The presenters provide a deeper understanding of this capitalization structure and discuss both the costs and benefits of this strategy. Practitioners will also learn about the most important steps in getting started in this area.

"Innovative Capitalization Strategies: What is Scalable?"
This Webinar gives an overview of past and current capitalization strategies used in the field. Emerging strategies, such as on-line lending sites (Kiva, Microplace) and several other unique investment structures, are explored. Practitioners provide insight into these more recent innovative experiences.

"Scale and Scope of the Microenterprise Industry" The third webinar in the Trendlines Series, explores the scale and scope of the microenterprise industry by examining the results of the field-wide U.S. microenterprise survey conducted by the Aspen Institute's FIELD Program in 2009.

"Supporting Microenterprises that Create Jobs" Several standout programs have worked with microenterprises that have shown increasing numbers of job created. We hear from two practitioners whose programs have developed new job creation components that are showing results.

"Job Creation in Microenterprise Development: What Story do the Numbers Tell Us?" Using data collected by MicroTest members through the client outcomes survey process, this Webinar explores employment generated by microenterprises; for both the owner as well as other paid workers. Featured speaker is Tamra Thetford, Program Manager for MicroTest, FIELD.

"At the Five Year Mark: Outcomes Reported by US Microenterprise Clients"This Webinar, sponsored by the Citi Foundation, delves into the results of a special report published under the same name. The report and the Webinar explore the outcomes reported by clients five years after engaging with a microenterprise program. Key questions are explored using the MicroTest survey data, such as "What are the business start and survival rates?" "How do business revenues and owner's draw change over time?" and "What type of employment is being generated?"

"Managing Your Microlending in a Challenging Environment" sponsored by Bank of America, looks at how to respond to current market trends and suggests some strategies that can help microlenders better manage the challenges.

"Trends in Demand, Risk and Funding: Market Conditions for Microlending" What do data from MicroTest and the Opportunity Finance Network's market conditions study tell us about how the twin forces of the recession and financial crises are affecting microlenders?

"Microenterprise and Entrepreneurship Development Systems" sponsored by Bank of America, explains the concepts behind Entrepreneurship Development Systems and takes an in-depth look at the role microenterprise programs have played in these systems.

"Tax Prep Services for Microenterpreneurs" a two-part Webinar sponsored by Bank of America, provides an in-depth exploration of the why and how of providing tax preparation services to microentrepreneurs. It also highlights the efforts of microenterprise programs and free community tax preparation sites to use tax preparation as a tool to help self-employed individuals to access tax credits, learn about their financial position, plan for the long term, and access other asset-building products.

"Spotlight on Sustainability: A Conversation about Efficiency" explores how one program - Opportunity Fund - has attempted to interweave efficiency efforts as part of their microlending scale-up and organizational sustainability plan. Includes commentary by Alan Okagaki, a long time economic development consultant.

"Platforms for the Microenterprise Industry," a two-part Webinar sponsored by Bank of America, explores how technological platforms can help organizations expand services, increase quality and achieve greater impact. Includes a demonstration of several current and emerging platforms, and a discussion led by representatives from ACCION Texas, ACCION Chicago, the Aspen Institute, WESST Corp and Credit Builders Alliance, among others. Learn more...

"EITC, Assets and Microenterprise in Native Communities." How Native American families and communities are using microenterprise, asset-building and the Earned Income Tax Credit to achieve economic security is the focus of this Webinar, sponsored jointly by Aspen/FIELD, the EITC Funders Network and the Asset Funders Network.

"Spotlight on Sustainability: A Conversation on Capital Structure." Showcases one program - Justine Petersen - that is trying to generate more flexible capital to increase sustainability. Includes commentary by experienced staff from ACCION New Mexico and ACCION New York.

"Painting (a Microenterprise story) by Numbers: A Look at Client Data." Key survey findings from clients of 34 microenterprise programs are discussed, along with how a more effective industry-wide data collection system could be developed.